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Chapter 183

EARLIER IN THE DAY...

Affixing his mark and blooddrop, ZAN gave Fisher the final signature she needed to complete the paperwork. "There. Now what?" he asked.

Fisher looked impressed with Zan's eagerness. So, he believed. She had a fun face which told him his behavior was not what she expected to encounter on a typical day. That was fine with Zan! Had it not been for Jiehong, during their childhood, he would've always been picked last for sports. By now, he was used to it.

"Now! Now? You are a brother, Zan! I am excited for how excited you are, but are you sure you don't want to slow down? Get to know the other members before you continue?" Fisher asked.

"I would like to continue. I don't mean to be rude. It's only me schedule. My Martial Order and I will be leaving the city, soon. I want to make sure I do as much as I can to advance myself in that short time," Zan explained.

"That makes sense. But I want you to understand something, Zan. Life will pass regardless. There is more to life than advancing yourself. But please, for me, your sister-in-faith, meet a few others from our church. I need a break from all this talking. A bit of personal time. Let me bring you around to meet them and then you and I can continue with your training," Fisher told him.

He nodded. He really had no interest in meeting people. He wanted the solitary route when it came to church life. At these lowly ranks, however, he would need to pay his dues before idling his days away in pure knowledge bliss.

Fisher led him on a tour of the church. It was not much of a tour.

By the time the tour of the four rooms was complete a few of the other members had dropped by. He met them, shook hands, and exchanged stories. By then, Fisher had left to attend to that personal time of hers. Zan had to handle the other members by himself. Which he could do, he simply didn't enjoy speaking with people. Especially not when they used unfamiliar terms and expected Zan to adhere so perfectly to a language he only had a few years -- just over a decade and a half -- to master since being born and thrown into the world of language.

Because Zan did not 'do' conversation well, he withered and dithered in his verbiage. He knew enough about holding a conversation -- thankfully -- to ask the basic questions. Those elementary queries such as 'when did you join?' and 'goodness! how awful!' or alternatively, 'incredible stroke of luck by the gods on your behalf!' took him far; sometimes, another member would go off on a tangent and spend many minutes going on and on about a hardly anything. Lucy, another member who came in mid-tangent on another member, did this about a god blessing her daughter. Her proof? She won a local talent competition.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

It wasn't as though Zan disbelieved the ladies. In fact, he did believe they received blessings from the gods. It was more as though he did not care. Gods would, on occassion, especially during harvest festivals, give their faithful servants blessings. But said blessings were random. Not 'pre-determined,' as his village's priest had made clear during the one-time every year, he repeated himself for the erring ears of children.

With blessings being common enough, Zan did not learn of it from the ladies who spoke to him. All the same, they clearly were under the impression they were teaching him. One told him, imploring heavily, that "we are telling the truth! You do not have to sit there so disbelieving, hun. One day, a god will bless you! We promise!" Of course, Zan believed them. If only they knew his silence was from social anxiety, not ignorance. Speaking to himself, Zan asked when are they coming back?

Minutes passed to an hour and then more. When Penne emerged from his office -- coincidentally at the exact same time as Fisher returned to the property -- Zan had, had it with the ladies and their gossip. "It's been a pleasure. I must be going, though," Zan said. He rose from his seat and went to talk with Penne and Fisher.

"Miss me?" Zan joked. "I missed you."

"And what are we -- chopped livers?!" one of the ladies from the living area yelled comically. It struck Zan at the last possible moment. Was she drunk?

"I did," Penne said. "Now that I've had more time to rest, let's get you up to speed. Enter my office and let's get you set up with a direction."

With an energetic smile again on his face, Zan crossed into Penne's office. He sat down and was about to talk when Penne beat him to the punch. "Do you not like talking with people?"

The question took him off guard. He said, "Why is everyone so concerned about my socializing?" As Zan spoke, his tone was barely a mumble.

"I don't mean to be!" Penne said, quickly recovering. "I want to-- sorry, how do I say this?" Penne started and stopped several times as he tried to think of the best way of saying what was on his mind. "Our denomination is very people centered. You will need to learn how to talk with people. That is, you will have to learn if you want to climb the highest ranks."

"But I'm not good with talking to people..." Zan said.

Penne laughed and said, "Which is why I said you will improve! Listen. Don't worry about it. There was a lot of ways to talk with people. As many style of talk as there are gossip."

Zan stretched his lips to a imitate a smile. "I find that hard to believe!"

With curiosity, he wondered what next. Fisher had him covered.

"So, step one? I know you're curious..."

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